Page 14 - Coffee County

That encouragement began even before Laura really knew what a horse show was all about. When she was still in diapers, her mother would put her on a horse and hold her there so she would begin to feel comfortable around animals that were much bigger than she was, and actually led the horse around and let her ride at age two. Little did her mother know just how at ease Laura would become. She never remembers there being a time when she was afraid of an animal. She started showing horses when she was nine years old and continued actively until she was in her second year of college. She now does it occasionally and loves it as much as she ever did. As Laura grew, her love for animals grew as well. When she was in high school at Citizens Christian Academy, one of the family horses had bones in its feet that had not grown correctly and this was causing the horse to have a limp. As the veterinarian treated the horse, Laura intently watched and studied every move. This gave her the exposure to equine veterinary medicine that sparked an interest in that area as a feld of study. She had known since she was young that she wanted to be a vet but she never